How GOP leadership can turn a midterm gift into a total disaster



Did Donald Trump secretly plan this fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files to lure Democrats into another political trap? No. I don’t believe he did. I know people close to the president who were frustrated over the summer when he abruptly shifted from promising the files' release to calling it a “distraction” and a “hoax.” I said at the time on my show that the switch was the first major misstep of Trump 2.0.

But I understand why the 4D-chess theory is so tempting now. It looks like a setup. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spent months attacking Trump over Epstein. Then we learned that Jeffries may have accepted donor requests from Epstein after Epstein’s first sex-offense conviction. And a Democrat from the Virgin Islands — Epstein’s district — was literally taking dictation from Epstein on what questions to ask in a congressional hearing.

The 2026 midterms are coming fast. If the GOP wants to avoid another preventable disaster, it had better stop rehearsing the same script.

Those are facts, not theories.

The deeper truth, though, has nothing to do with strategy. American politics follows two patterns, and both showed up again this week.

First, Republicans pre-emptively surrender. Always.

Watch Democrats tell soldiers to ignore orders while Trump follows every instruction a federal judge hands him. His restraint isn’t Romney-level, but the Republicans around him shrink the space for any real fight. That’s why Attorney General Pam Bondi is developing a well-deserved reputation for overpromising and under-delivering.

RELATED: The right message: Justice. The wrong messenger: Pam Bondi.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Second, Democrats always overreach when Republicans fold.

We saw it in 2018 when Republicans gave up on repealing Obamacare and lost 40 House seats for their cowardice. The pattern continued in 2020, as Democrats pushed their false god evangelism into insane absolutism — on “fortifying” elections, on arresting Trump, on forcing people into taking the poisonous jab, on transitioning kids. It was mark of the beast stuff, and voters wanted no part of it.

The latest example came this week, when Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) answered a question from a friendly reporter about why Democrats never pursued the Epstein files when they had the chance by snapping, “What is [Trump] hiding?” The Senate had just voted almost unanimously to release those files, and instead of revealing Trump, former Bill Clinton hack Lawrence Summers stood exposed for his ties to the sex offender, seeking his counsel as “wingman” in an effort to seduce the daughter of a high Chinese Communist Party official.

RELATED: ‘Swamp protects itself’: Republicans shield Epstein-texting Democrat — allegedly to save Cory Mills’ hide

Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Both parties cling to their worst instincts. Republicans surrender too easily. Democrats push too far. And no politician in modern history has been buoyed more by his opponents’ excesses than Donald Trump.

So once again, Republicans hold the advantage on the Epstein files — at least for the moment. But early signs suggest they may squander it. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Pam Bondi appear ready to narrow or redact the release into something the base will see as betrayal. If that happens, Democrats won’t need to win the argument. Republicans will beat themselves.

The 2026 midterms are coming fast. If the GOP wants to avoid another preventable disaster, it had better stop rehearsing the same script.

A little discipline — and a little courage — would go a long way.

A payout scheme for senators deepens the gap between DC and the rest of us



During the final hours of the shutdown fight earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) slipped a toxic provision into the continuing resolution that reopened the government. The clause created a special pathway for select senators to sue the federal government, bypass its usual legal defenses, and claim large payouts if their records were subpoenaed during the Arctic Frost investigation.

The result? About eight senators could demand $500,000 for every “instance” of seized data. Those instances could stack, pushing potential payouts into the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. That is not an exaggeration. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has all but celebrated the prospect.

Graham said he wanted ‘tens of millions of dollars’ for seized records while victims of weaponization still face shattered lives.

No one else would qualify for compensation. Only senators. Anyone who spent years helping victims of political weaponization — often pro bono, while prestige law firms chased billable hours — can see the corruption in plain view. The message this provision sends on the central Trump-era promise of accountability could not be weaker: screw the people, pay the pols.

The surveillance of senators was wrong. It should never have happened. But senators did not face what ordinary Americans endured. Senators maintain large campaign accounts to hire top lawyers. They operate out of official offices, armed with constitutional protections such as the Speech and Debate Clause. They do not lose their homes, jobs, savings, or businesses. Thousands of Americans did. Many still face legal bills, ruined livelihoods, and ongoing cases. They deserve restitution — not the politicians who failed them.

Graham helped push this provision forward. As public criticism grew, he defended it. On Sean Hannity’s show the other day, he said: “My phone records were seized. I’m not going to put up with this crap. I’m going to sue.” Hannity asked how much. Graham replied: “Tens of millions of dollars.”

Democrats will replay that clip across every battleground in the country going into an uphill midterm battle in 2026.

Graham embodies the worst messenger for this fight. He helped fuel weaponization long before he claimed victimhood. He urged the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to pass the Steele dossier to the FBI. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he did nothing to slow the Justice Department and FBI as they pursued political targets. He even supported many of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees who later embraced aggressive lawfare tactics. If anyone owed restitution to victims, Graham sits high on the list.

RELATED: Trump’s pardons expose the left’s vast lawfare machine

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Fortunately, enough Republicans recognize the political and moral disaster of funneling taxpayer funds to senators while real victims remain abandoned. The House advanced a measure today to repeal the provision. Led by Reps. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), the House forced the Senate to address in public what it attempted to smuggle through in private.

Thune defended the measure in comments to Axios. He argued that only senators suffered statutory violations and said the provision was crafted to avoid covering House members. He did not explain why any House member who was illegally surveilled should receive no remedy.

The Senate leader also claimed the financial penalty would deter a future Justice Department from targeting lawmakers, citing the actions of special counsel Jack Smith. His emphasis on “future” misconduct glossed over a critical fact: The provision is retroactive and would cover past abuses.

That defense cannot survive daylight. Repeal requires 60 Senate votes, and not a single Democrat will fight to preserve a payout for Graham. Republicans should not try either. Efforts to strike the measure need to begin immediately. Senators — especially Thune — should commit to an up-or-down vote. If they want to send tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to Graham, they should do it in public, with the country watching.

Washington already reeks of grift and self-dealing this year. If senators protect this provision, that smell will spread nationwide.

Free markets don’t need federal babysitters



At a recent competition law symposium in Washington, the Trump administration’s antitrust chief, Gail Slater, made a welcome promise to keep markets open to new competitors and innovation.

That pledge comes at a critical moment. Too many politicians in both parties still believe government’s job is to engineer economic outcomes rather than let consumers decide. That mindset misunderstands what makes markets dynamic — and often locks in the very problems regulators claim they want to fix.

Republicans and Democrats alike have embraced ‘industrial policy’ when it serves their political interests. They call it leadership, but it’s just another form of central planning.

Cronyism takes many forms: subsidies for favored industries, tax breaks for politically connected firms, or lawsuits targeting companies for being too successful.

Take the Biden Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Visa. The administration said it “feared” Visa’s market share, even though the payments space is crowded with competitors — Mastercard, PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, and a swarm of fintech startups. Instead of protecting consumers, the Justice Department tried to punish one company for competing well and dictate the terms of an already vibrant market.

That’s not protecting competition — it’s manipulating it. When government intervenes this way, it distorts incentives, weakens confidence, and replaces consumer choice with bureaucratic preference.

Consumers always lose

When regulators overreach, consumers pay the price. Every dollar a company spends fending off groundless lawsuits is a dollar not spent on innovation. Every subsidy handed to a politically favored firm skews the playing field against smaller rivals. And every new dictate slows the experimentation that keeps markets alive.

Officials who justify these intrusions claim they’re “protecting competition.” But true competition doesn’t need Washington’s help. It needs Washington to step aside. Entrepreneurs, not regulators, create rivals. Consumers, not bureaucrats, decide who wins. The invisible hand disciplines firms far more effectively than any government lawyer.

Free markets need fewer meddlers

Government’s legitimate role is narrow: preventing fraud, enforcing contracts, and protecting property. That’s a far cry from deciding which companies are “too profitable,” which mergers are “too large,” or which industries deserve “strategic” subsidies. When officials cross that line, they stop refereeing and start playing the game themselves — badly.

This temptation spans parties. Republicans and Democrats alike have embraced “industrial policy” when it serves their political interests. They call it leadership, but it’s just another form of central planning that shackles consumers and businesses alike.

RELATED: Smash the health care cartel, free the market

File photo/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

The cure is restraint

The best way forward is simple. Washington should stop punishing success and stop handing out favors to friends. It should let consumers and entrepreneurs, not bureaucrats and lobbyists, determine winners and losers.

America’s prosperity was built on open competition and voluntary exchange — not government micromanagement. Crony capitalism is just socialism by another name, and it breeds the same stagnation and corruption.

President Trump’s team understands that prosperity comes from freedom, not favoritism. If policymakers truly care about fairness, they should start by doing the hardest thing in politics: stepping aside.

Woman Who Harassed Stephen Miller’s Family at Their Home Is Harmless Academic ‘In the Field of Peace Studies,’ Her Lawyer Argues

The woman who posted flyers exposing White House adviser Stephen Miller’s address and calling for "NO NAZIS" in Northern Virginia is a harmless academic "in the field of peace studies," her lawyer claimed.

The post Woman Who Harassed Stephen Miller’s Family at Their Home Is Harmless Academic ‘In the Field of Peace Studies,’ Her Lawyer Argues appeared first on .

6 Attorneys Who Signed Arctic Frost Subpoenas Are No Longer At DOJ

All of the six attorneys who signed the subpoenas released Wednesday are no longer employed by the DOJ, The Federalist has learned.

DOJ Nabs Anarchist Allegedly Offering $45,000 Hit On Pam Bondi

'WANTED: Pam Bondi'

DHS probe confirms Biden's FEMA refused aid to Trump-supporting disaster survivors



The Federal Emergency Management Agency, while under the leadership of the Biden administration, was accused of skipping homes that displayed campaign signs supporting President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

A whistleblower report surfaced in late 2024 that FEMA relief workers had been ordered not to provide aid to people displaying Trump signs on their property, eventually prompting several firings at the agency.

'They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors' political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior.'

Then-FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Congress that it was an isolated incident, blaming the misstep on a since-terminated employee.

However, a Department of Homeland Security report released Tuesday revealed that the "abuses were widespread, systematic, and occurred during multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Ida in 2021."

Further, the probe claimed that the workers also violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting information about the political beliefs of disaster survivors.

The DHS report listed some examples of observed political signs and flags that FEMA relief workers documented.

RELATED: FEMA fires 3 more supervisors tied to home-skipping scandal impacting Trump supporters

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

"Trump sign, no contact per leadership," a FEMA worker wrote in 2024 about a Florida home, according to the report.

"A lot of explicit political flags, posters, etc. 'F**k Joe Biden' 'MAGA 2024' 'Joe Biden Sucks' 'TRUMP 2024,'" another worker allegedly noted in 2021 about a Pennsylvania residence. "We do not recommend anyone visiting this location."

"Homeowner had sign stated ... this is Trump country," a third reportedly wrote about a Louisiana property in 2021.

RELATED: FEMA investigating stunning report that hurricane relief workers were ordered to skip houses with pro-Trump signs

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

"The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs — this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated.

"For years, FEMA employees under the Biden administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds," Noem continued. "They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors' political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior. We will not let this stand."

The DHS referred the case to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.

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Trump DOJ charges another pair of Big Balls' suspected attackers, blasts judges who kept thug on streets



Edward Coristine, the young engineer known as "Big Balls" who previously worked for the Department of Government Efficiency, was beaten to a pulp by a group of 10 young suspects during an attempted carjacking on Aug. 3 in the national capital.

One week after a Biden-nominated judge cut two of the attackers loose and spared them from jail time, the Trump Justice Department announced charges against another pair of suspects.

Background

After the attack, during which Coristine stood his ground and defended his girlfriend, police apprehended two suspects at the scene — a 15-year-old male and a 15-year-old female of Hyattsville, Maryland — and charged both with unarmed carjacking.

'We're not going to be happy until we get every person who was involved.'

While the attack was so savage as to prompt President Donald Trump to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and deploy the National Guard, Kendra Briggs, a Biden-nominated associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, treated two of the attackers with kid gloves.

First, Briggs decided it wasn't worth keeping the thugs in custody, telling one of Coristine's attackers, "I don't want to put hardship on your family."

After instructing both thugs to refrain from possessing weapons or entering into other people's vehicles unless they have permission from the owners, Briggs directed the male attacker to hang out at his mother's home and the female attacker to move from the secure Youth Services Center to a youth shelter house.

RELATED: The city that chose crime and chaos over courage

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Obliging the request by prosecutors last week, Briggs decided ultimately not to incarcerate the two attackers.

The male attacker, who pleaded guilty to four counts related to a robbery and the separate beating of Coristine, received one year of probation. The female attacker, who pleaded guilty to a count of simple assault for pepper-spraying someone during the robbery, was sentenced to nine months of probation.

Briggs emphasized that the goal of juvenile court was "rehabilitation, not punishment."

"To this day, they’ve only caught two out of the ten. Eight of them remain on the street. That night could’ve gone far differently. Think of your daughters and mothers. The same group attacked people before and after us, breaking ribs and stomping heads," Coristine noted last week. "This senseless crime must be stopped."

Another two

The Trump DOJ revealed on Monday that it was charging two more teens in connection with the attack on Coristine and the corresponding attempted carjacking.

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, indicated that Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, face charges including assault with intent to commit robbery and robbery — not only in connection with the attack on Coristine but in connection with a separate attack on another individual just minutes earlier at a nearby gas station.

Whereas Taylor, a teen from Maryland, has no known criminal history, Cotton-Powell is apparently a seasoned thug who has benefited from bleeding hearts in the judiciary.

Pirro claimed that despite committing crimes while on probation for a previous felony conviction, Cotton-Powell was nevertheless free to attack Coristine and Ethan Levine, the second victim who was stomped ruthlessly by a mob of thugs, because of the leniency of the D.C. Superior Court.

"On April 3 of this year, Laurence Cotton-Powell was sentenced for a felony attempted robbery. My office asked for jail time. Judge [Carmen] McLean, a judge sitting in the criminal part in Superior Court with no criminal background, made a decision to give Cotton-Powell probation in spite of his conviction on a felony attempted robbery," said Pirro. "Within 31 days, by May 4, Powell reoffends. He's re-arrested while he's on probation from the felony, and he's charged with simple assault and possession of a prohibited weapon B."

Pirro indicated that the court subsequently refused her office's request to revoke the thug's bail and released Cotton-Powell. Although Cotton-Powell was later sentenced, "on July 25, another judge suspends his sentence and decides that he should be on probation," said the attorney.

"So after a felony of attempted robbery conviction, after a violation of probation, after a second crime, after a second conviction, after no compliance with [the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency], the judges say, 'Do better,' and they let him go," said Pirro. "And guess what? Within 10 days, he's at it again with Ethan Levine and Edward Coristine."

Pirro credited the Metropolitan Police Department with going above and and beyond to track down suspects Taylor and Cotton-Powell.

MPD Chief Pamela Smith said, "These arrests send a very strong message to our community: If you commit violent acts in our community, you will be found, you will be held accountable, and you will face justice."

"We're not going to be happy until we get every person who was involved in the assault on these two individuals," said Pirro.

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Alleged Oct 7 Terrorist Charged With Entering the United States Illegally After Receiving Fraudulent Visa From Biden Admin

An alleged terrorist who participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel is currently being held in a Louisiana jail, charged earlier this month with entering the United States using a fraudulent visa given to him by the Biden administration, according to a criminal complaint and inmate records.

The post Alleged Oct 7 Terrorist Charged With Entering the United States Illegally After Receiving Fraudulent Visa From Biden Admin appeared first on .

Former national security adviser John Bolton indicted by federal grand jury



On Wednesday, a grand jury convened to consider charges against John Bolton, a national security adviser in President Trump's first term and a longtime Trump critic.

On Thursday afternoon, the grand jury came to a decision.

A Justice Department official previously told the New York Post that the case they had against him was 'airtight.'

The 76-year-old former Trump adviser was indicted by a grand jury on 18 counts related to mishandling classified information, eight counts of transmission of national defense information, and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI, according to a DOJ press release.

“There is one tier of justice for all Americans,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, according to the press release. “Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

RELATED: 'NO ONE is above the law': FBI raids former national security adviser John Bolton's home

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

According to a Wednesday New York Post report, the grand jury considered charges against Bolton over his alleged sharing of highly sensitive classified materials on a private email server. A Justice Department official previously told the New York Post that the case they had against him was "airtight."

Bolton stands accused of sending classified information on a private AOL email account as well as keeping "diary-like notes" during his time in the first administration.

Thursday's indictment signals a major milestone in a months-long investigation — with potentially dire consequences.

According to the heavily redacted search warrant affidavit, reviewed by AP upon its September release and used by the FBI to justify its August raid of Bolton's Maryland house, an unredacted section heading reads, "Hack of Bolton AOL Account by Foreign Entity."

More details on the nature of the hack or the "foreign entity" were unavailable due to redactions.

If convicted, Bolton could face up to 10 years in prison for each count, the press release said.

According to CNBC, Trump said in response to the news of Bolton's indictment: "You're telling me for the first time, but I think he's, you know, a bad person. I think he's a bad — yeah, he's a bad guy. It's too bad. But that's the way it goes, right? That's the way it goes."

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